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U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Florida members of Congress recently urged Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to ensure Florida farmers get critical aid and policy flexibilities as they recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
“These back-to-back major hurricanes have decimated Florida agriculture, our state’s second largest industry,” the Florida legislators’ letter to Vilsack stated. “According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, the preliminary estimate of total crop and infrastructure losses (from Hurricane Milton) ranges from $1.5 to $2.5 billion, and the state of Florida has requested federal agriculture disaster designations for impacted counties in response to both storms … Milton’s path impacted some of Florida’s most productive agricultural areas” including citrus land.
The letter noted that in 2018, after Hurricane Irma, Congress appropriated relief to Florida agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) delivered that aid through a block grant to the state.
“We ask that you support both an appropriation request and authority to deliver the assistance in the form of a block grant to our state,” the letter stated.
“FSA (USDA’s Farm Service Agency) offices across Florida are still having trouble facilitating disaster assistance programs designed to help after 2022 Hurricanes Ian and Nicole,” the letter continued. “However, these funds were not in the form of a block grant and as a result, there are hundreds of producers who are still awaiting assistance … Block grants administered by the state expedite disbursement, free up personnel at FSA to efficiently carry out routine programs and provide needed flexibility for states.”
The letter stated that in many states other than Florida, “straightforward programs … enable producers to easily enroll and receive payments. These routine programs influence FSA workload metrics and help the agency prioritize personnel and resources. However, the situation differs significantly in Florida with specialty crops. Most of our programs are disaster-based, which are notably more time-consuming to administer and manage. These factors are not accounted for when allocating staff. As a result, our FSA county offices are not adequately staffed and have not finalized Emergency Relief Program and Emergency Conservation Program payments to producers for 2022.”
Rubio and the members of Congress noted that many of Florida’s specialty crop growers do not have insurance on their crops because of the high price of the premiums and low payouts from claims.
“The Florida delegation will continue its efforts to work with USDA to prioritize improving crop insurance options for growers,” the letter stated.
Joining Rubio in the letter to Vilsack were U.S. Representatives from Florida Scott Franklin, Kat Cammack, Anna Paulina Luna, Neal Dunn, Brian Mast, Gus Bilirakis, Mario Díaz-Balart, Laurel Lee, Michael Waltz, María Elvira Salazar, Daniel Webster, Aaron Bean, Bill Posey, John Rutherford, Darren Soto, Byron Donalds, Cory Mills, Jared Moskowitz, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Greg Steube, Lois Frankel, Carlos Giménez, Federica Wilson, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Vern Buchanan, Matt Gaetz and Kathy Castor.
See the full letter here.
Source: U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
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